Pros and Cons of Green Roofs

About Green Roofing

A green or living roof is simply a roof of a house with plants or any other vegetation partly or wholly covering it. According to The Cool Roofing Company, the best residential roofing contractor in Atlanta, GA, this can be a simple system with only waterproof material or a complex one with advanced waterproofing, a membrane to stop roots penetrating the soil to reach the roof, drainage and irrigation platform, a filter cloth, a lightweight growing medium, and plants.

Types of green roofing

Extensive: This is when low-growing, drought-resistant species such as succulents, grasses, and herbs is growing on a shallow layer of topsoil spread on a roof.

Semi-intensive: Here shrubs, perennials, and grasses grow on a deep layer of soil on a roof.

Intensive roof gardens: It involves lawns, bushes, trees and larger species of perennial plants growing on a much deeper soil layers on a roof.

Factors

The location, weather condition, and your house design will influence the kind of green roofing you will opt for. You, however, need to consult your contractor to guide you.

Valued

Many people in North America have not yet fully accepted the benefits of green roofs. The Europeans, however, value the green roofs because of the national and local governments’ legal and financial supports.

Pros of green roofing

Market value

Stormwater control

The green roofing surface retains some rainwater and vegetation takes up a certain amount before releasing it to the atmosphere through osmosis and evaporation. This reduces the velocity of the stormwater.

Heat retention

Green roofing improves your house’s heat retention in winter and cooling in summer. This could reduce your heating and air-conditioning needs, which could help you make some savings on your power bills.

Vegetables and fruits

You can transform your green roof into your kitchen garden and grow fruits and vegetables for your household, cutting down your shopping bills.

Fresh air

The vegetation and vegetation on your roof will draw carbon dioxide and other pollutants from the air while producing oxygen. This will enable you to contribute towards cutting down on your own personal carbon footprint and supplying fresh and clean breathing air.

Sound proof

Aesthetic beauty

Well-maintained green roofing will improve the appearance of your house and the entire area.

Job creation

Green roofing is a multi-billion dollar industry of its own, be it the manufacture of the materials and equipment used in constructing them or the vegetation growth and the roofs design, installation and maintenance.

Cons of green roofing

Cost of installation

Certain architectural designs may render your house unsuitable for green roofing. This may require you to carry out some modifications and even reconstruction of your roof to accommodate a green roof. Even then, however, requisite necessities such as waterproof materials, root penetration stopper, a drainage system, filter cloth, a suitable growing solution, and plants to be planted would cost you a reasonable amount. Above all, you will need a qualified and experienced contractor to put up a green roof.

Maintenance costs

This is a specialized roof requiring constant maintenance compared to an ordinary roof to ensure your roof does not, for example, start leaking.

Depress market value

A poorly maintained or a broken down green roof could also reduce your property’s market value as potential buyers demand major discounts to take into account the cost of repairing, reconstructing or even doing away with the green roof.

Accidents

Given the weight of roof as a result of the vegetation and whole system linked to the garden on top of it (roof), could lead to structural malfunction and would result in the roof collapsing with a potential to causing accidents to your household.